For What It's Worth

There's something happening here But what it is ain't exactly clear There's a man with a gun over there Telling me I got to beware I think it's time we stop Children, what's that sound? Everybody look - what's going down? There's battle lines being drawn Nobody's right if everybody's wrong Young people speaking' their minds Getting so much resistance from behind It's time we stop Hey, what's that sound? Everybody look - what's going down? What a field day for the heat A thousand people in the street Singing songs and carrying signs Mostly saying, "hooray for our side" It's time we stop Hey, what's that sound? Everybody look - what's going down? Paranoia strikes deep Into your life it will creep It starts when you're always afraid Step out of line, the men come and take you away We better stop Hey, what's that sound? Everybody look - what's going down? We better stop Hey, what's that sound? Everybody look - what's going down? We better stop Now, what's that sound? Everybody look - what's going down? We better stop Children, what's that sound? Everybody look - what's going down?
Just like in the 60’s we now have revolution on our hands again. The last time it was about civil rights and revolting against the Vietnam War. Some of the agendas are still the same even now. We live in a land where we have the freedom to rise up and declare when things aren’t fair, or when we feel that we aren’t included. But we shouldn’t use those freedoms for a context for evil.

We have a right to rise up when we have lost our freedoms, but what is counted as freedom by some, is entirely different to others, especially in a land where there is so much diversity. Revolution can take many forms. Sometimes it is justified and other times it isn’t. Certainly some fifty years ago the passionate outcries against an unnecessary war were justified. Certainly when thousands of young men lost their lives because of this war, an outcry could be counted worthy. When Martin Luther King and others marched from Selma to Montgomery Alabama against racial prejudice, their voices needed to be heard.

Even as a new Commander-in-Chief is now in office, what is promised to unite a land has seemingly triggered the division that is already here, to make it even deeper and more entrenched. Both sides are at odds with each other, and making something great can only happen when there is dialogue and understanding on both sides. We can pray and I do, for healing for our nation and for the wisdom of the man in office now, but stopping a moving train that is traveling at such a great speed is a task that only a fictitious super hero could accomplish.

To be sure, our prayers avail much, and they are needed now more than at any time perhaps in our history. While we are called to pray for a president, we must also pray for our nation. And those prayers take on different forms depending upon the person who is praying. How many of us really have eyes to see about the intentions of this new agenda? And more importantly, how many have made patriotism their god rather than the eternal one?

The almighty dollar raises its filthy hand as the flag of some, and clouds itself in a patriotism that promises much, but may well give to only a few. But perhaps the prophetic time table outlines these events, as we know, and all of this is part of God’s plan to bring us to our knees. But truly, what would it take to bring a nation to its knees ? Do we really think that just because the cup appears to be clean on the outside now, that the judgment that is coming will be avoided? Are we truly promised golden days ahead just because a Republican is now in charge?

I pray that healing would come, but I believe that it won’t come until the true King of Kings comes. Peace can’t come until the cancer has been taken out. The cancer that resides here is sometimes subtle and yet other times, is more evident. One can clean the outside of a cup, and yet on the inside there is still disease and corruption within.

"You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. Matt. 23:26

There is the disease of self-righteousness and the greed on the right, and there is bitterness and loss on the left. One can go through all of the motions of pretense, using a bible, and giving the semblance of compassion, but these attributes come out of suffering and taking on the character of the true King.

While it is true that none of us fully knows what is on the inside of another person’s heart, discerning of Spirits pin-points that place and exposes those intentions. All I can say there, is that things are not as they appear to be, and I say that as one who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, who has told me this again and again.

It is true that we must give this all a chance and time for the dust to settle. My hope and prayer is that a true dialogue could come out of all of this, and that an authenticity and transparency could be seen. Otherwise, we are just left with smoke and mirrors that cloud what is really there.

Stephen A. Hanson